Collision Course

by Matt Hilton

  ‘OK, Po, let’s drop the subject, shall we, and concentrate on finding Hayley?’

  ‘Sure thing,’ he agreed, but with a snarky grin. ‘Where d’you wanna try now, Rocky?’

  They’d already done the rounds of Hayley’s neighbors, past workmates and closest friends, none of whom knew where the girl had gotten to, but who had led them to Jacob Doyle. ‘We may as well hit up Cooper’s.’

  Cooper’s Bar was on Middle Street, in Portland’s entertainment district, mid-point between Congress and Fore Streets. According to his siblings, Jacob had taken a job bussing tables at an establishment that couldn’t decide if it was an Irish-style tavern or an English-style fish ’n’ chips restaurant: its type of clientele depended mostly on the time of day, the diners and drinkers rarely mixing.

  ‘Makes sense. Then we can swing by and collect Pinky. I can’t wait to tell him how you knocked Nathan Doyle on his ass.’

  ‘Po, please don’t. You know what Pinky’s like … I’ll never hear the last of it.’

  Jerome ‘Pinky’ Leclerc was once Po’s cellmate during their incarceration at Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. For most of his adult life, the flamboyant Pinky had been a career criminal in and around Baton Rouge, until Tess and Po’s first job together had reconnected the two men. Since then Pinky had regularly assisted them with their activities, putting his life on the line for them on more than one occasion, and growing to be their best friend. Through his involvement – in his words – on the side of the angels, he’d suffered a paradigm shift in his mentality. Tess sometimes cringed when Pinky held her up as his idea of a paragon of virtue, a shining example he wished to emulate. He’d glorify her act of knocking out Nathan Doyle to save Po as proof of her righteousness! A few months ago he’d abandoned his old life, fled north with a bounty on his head and taken up residence in Tess’s vacant home above an antiques shop on Cumberland Avenue, a hearty stone’s throw from Cooper’s Bar.

  ‘Maybe we should go collect Pinky first,’ Po suggested with a grin. ‘Should you need to knock out Jacob Doyle; I’d hate for him to miss the show a second time.’

  Tess backhanded his shoulder, and Po laughed. ‘Hey! Maybe you’re gettin’ too handy with those fists. I thought you said that resorting to violence was nothin’ to be proud of?’

  ‘Keep it up,’ she warned, ‘and you’ll be the one getting knocked out, Nicolas.’

  ‘Uh-oh, I know when I hear my given name you mean business.’

  ‘You’d better believe it,’ she agreed. They both laughed.

  Thankfully, Po changed the subject.

  ‘Jacob’s brothers painted a damning picture of Hayley. You think there’s truth in it?’

  ‘I prefer to reserve judgment and make up my mind after meeting someone.’

  ‘I’m with you. There are two sides to every story, maybe more. It’ll be interesting hearin’ Jacob’s take on the tale.’

  Tess understood where he was leading. If Hayley Cameron was the type of girl Adrian Doyle had described then she might have attracted trouble from someone that had forced her to lie low. Jacob had supposedly learned his lesson after being used by her and he’d moved on; maybe there was somebody else in her life that wasn’t as forgiving. But Tess wasn’t about to prejudge her. A couple of years ago, Tess had been hired to find Jasmine Reed: if she’d believed half the stories circulating about Jazz’s lifestyle she might not have thrown herself into discovering the young woman’s whereabouts, and Jazz would have died along with her murderous abductor’s other victims. Jazz’s supposed promiscuity had turned out to be lies spread by his rich parents to protect their rapist son. Jazz was a good and decent young woman, who now, as it happened, helped run Po’s retro bar-diner Bar-Lesque.

  Po found a parking spot as close to Cooper’s Bar as possible, but it still meant a short walk in light rain. The weather had come in off the north Atlantic, lowering the temperature by several degrees. The raindrops hitting her cheeks felt like ice shavings. Tess hunched against the shower, but Po walked with his usual languid stride while finishing a cigarette. He’d waited to feed his nicotine habit until they were out of the Mustang, more for Tess’s sake than for the integrity of his car’s interior. At Cooper’s he flicked the stub into a curbside drain and it rode the trickle of water sluicing off the road.

  ‘How’d you want to play this?’ he asked.

  Patting raindrops from her hair, Tess said, ‘Nice and easy. We don’t want a repeat performance of what happened earlier.’

  ‘Speak for yourself.’ He smiled at her creased brow, held open the door for her. The aroma of deep-fried batter washed over them. Po wrinkled his nose, but Tess’s stomach gurgled.

  ‘We should kill two birds,’ she suggested, ‘and get something to eat while we’re here.’

  ‘I’m good, but knock yourself out.’

  Again Tess frowned at him, unsure if he was still poking fun at her earlier escapades with the play on words. Apparently it was only a figure of speech though, because he returned her look with one of confusion. ‘Seriously,’ he said, ‘I’m not hungry. But if you want I’ll grab some fries so you don’t have to dine alone.’

  ‘If that’s all you want, fine, but no picking off my plate.’ She showed him her bunched fist.

  A young woman dressed in a green tabard and black trousers greeted them. She announced herself as ‘Stacey’ and that she’d be their server. It would’ve been rude to immediately ask for Jacob in case she misconstrued their meaning. The restaurant was busy. They allowed Stacey to lead them to a free table, where she indicated cutlery folded in napkins, and helpfully laid out menus before them. ‘Can I get you started with some drinks?’ she asked.

  ‘Iced water will be fine,’ said Tess, while Po hit her up for an Americano. While Stacey poured water into Tess’s glass from a jug, Tess thanked her, and asked if Jacob Doyle was around.

  ‘Jacob?’ Stacey scanned the bustling restaurant, but must’ve come up short. ‘Hmm, I don’t see him, but I know he was here only minutes ago. Let me go check for you and I’ll be right back to take your order.’

  Once the server was out of earshot, Po said, ‘Y’ask me, one of his brothers has given him a head’s up and he’s booked outta here.’

  If one of his siblings had telephoned ahead of their arrival, Jacob hadn’t run away. However, when he emerged from the kitchen area, and Stacey indicated them, all color flooded from his features and he immediately grew jittery. Perhaps he too suffered the intrinsic distrust of investigators that his brothers did. He approached, waxy with cold sweat, and he ran his fingers through black curly hair. He wore the company uniform of green tabard and black trousers.

  ‘Umm, I believe y’all were asking about me?’ Jacob didn’t clarify if the first he’d heard about them was via their server or by other means.

  ‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ Tess reassured him. ‘We only want to speak with you about your girlfriend, Hayley Cameron.’

  ‘Ex,’ he said quickly. ‘Hayley’s my ex-girlfriend.’

  ‘My mistake.’ Tess hid her lie with a smile.

  ‘What do you want with Hayley … are you guys cops?’

  ‘Your brothers didn’t already explain?’ Po countered.

  Jacob looked genuinely confused.

  Tess explained. ‘We visited your home first; your brothers told us where you worked. We wondered if they called to let you know we were coming.’

  ‘I’m not allowed to carry my cellphone at work.’ An electronic tablet on which food orders were recorded already encumbered him. Whilst serving and clearing tables he stored it in a pouch in his tabard; his clothing lacked other pockets. His explanation rang true. It didn’t exclude his brothers ringing the restaurant directly, but Tess trusted they hadn’t. He looked back at Stacey, who’d waited a respectful distant behind him. ‘Umm, Stacey says she still needs to take your order. I’m about to take my break, if you’d rather …’

  ‘Our food can wait,’ said Tess. ‘We’ll try to take u
p as little of your break as possible.’

  Jacob nodded in the general direction of the kitchens. ‘I usually take my breaks out in the back yard.’

  Po got his meaning first, and took a pack of Marlboros from his shirt pocket and shook them enticingly. Jacob gave the pack a brief glance, but in that moment he was filled with avarice. Perhaps his waxy appearance had nothing to do with a distrust of investigators and everything with his need for feeding his habit.

  ‘I’ll see you guys in the yard in two minutes,’ he promised, and strode away, head down and avoiding eye contact with any of the patrons. Stacey approached their table, an open question hanging over her.

  ‘Can I get my coffee to go?’ asked Po.

  THREE

  Jacob physically resembled his brothers, but he lacked the pent-up aggression they’d displayed when first greeted by Tess and Po in their front yard. In fact, as they exited a fire door into the back yard behind Cooper’s he looked relieved to see them. Jacob hadn’t tallied. By the time Stacey had filled a take-out cup with coffee and Po had tipped her generously, the young man had thrown a jacket over his uniform and gotten himself seated in his favorite spot. He was perched on an upturned crate, under an overhang formed by an upper-story extension later added to the building. It served to keep the rain off him. A small bucket served as an ashtray, overflowing with dead butts and crumpled Lucky Strikes packets. Tess moved in alongside him, while Po stood stoic against the elements, raindrops pattering on his shoulders. Jacob ignored Tess, staring plaintively at Po as a reminder. Po handed off his coffee to Tess and pulled out his cigarettes. Jacob’s fingers trembled as he accepted one and fed it to his mouth: he had his own disposable lighter ready for action. Po’s Marlboro wasn’t his favorite brand but he struck a flame and inhaled gratefully as the nicotine-laden smoke invaded his lungs. Po also lit up, before accepting his coffee back.

  Finally, Jacob acknowledged Tess, allowing smoke to leak from between his clenched teeth.

  ‘Does this bother you?’ He held up his cigarette.

  She squinted through the blue-tinged cloud at him. Often those most fervent about how filthy a habit smoking is are those that have given it up; Tess used to smoke, but she was around Po enough that she sometimes felt she was still feeding her craving through passive inhalation. Somebody smoking in her vicinity didn’t normally bother her but in such close confines her eyes tingled and she suspected her hair and clothing would stink after. She must accept her lot or she must take the rain as Po did. She stayed put.

  ‘Knock yourself out,’ she said, and avoided looking at Po. Now that Jacob was more settled, and amenable to questioning, she wanted to get down to business. It was probably best for now that Jacob was kept unaware she’d knocked one of his older brothers on his ass.

  ‘So you’re looking for Hayley, huh?’

  His question was rhetorical, so Tess answered obliquely. ‘I’m hoping you can point us in her direction.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because we need to find her.’

  ‘I meant why do you need to find her. Is she in some kind of trouble?’

  ‘Would it surprise you to find she were?’

  He pondered her question while drawing in more tobacco smoke. ‘Depends,’ he decided, ‘on what you deem trouble. I’m guessing that being hunted by a couple of private eyes means she’s done something worse than shoplifting a lipstick.’

  ‘Is that the kind of stuff she got up to when she was with you?’

  ‘I plead the Fifth,’ Jacob said.

  ‘Don’t worry, Jacob, we’re not looking for her because of nonpayment of a restitution order over some petty theft. It’s, well, let’s just say the situation’s more serious than that.’

  ‘When you find her will she be sent to prison?’

  ‘If that were the case it’d be the cops looking for her, not us.’

  ‘So how can the situation be so serious?’

  Tess had refused his siblings any of the specific details concerning her case, but she saw no harm in giving them to Jacob. If he was going to help them he needed to understand the full implication of locating Hayley.

  ‘When you were together, did Hayley ever tell you about her father?’

  ‘Sure she did. She said he died a hero.’

  ‘Yeah, well that was untrue.’

  ‘She lied?’ His features screwed up in bafflement. ‘Why would she? She told me her dad was killed on active service in Afghanistan.’

  ‘The truth is she was lied to, and was only repeating what she had been led to believe.’

  ‘Why would her mom lie to her like that?’

  ‘Evidently Hayley didn’t share everything with you, Jacob. Are you unaware she was adopted?’

  ‘Jeez, I hadn’t a clue. So Jessie’s not her real mom?’

  ‘Jessie Cameron raised her; that makes her Hayley’s mom in my book. But as far as being her birth mother, the answer’s no. After her father abandoned them, her birth mother sought solace in alcohol but it didn’t help. She was unable to care fully for a newborn baby and Child Services had to step in. Losing both her partner and her little girl proved too much for Hayley’s mom, she took her own life … a cocktail of booze and antidepressants.’

  Stunned, Jacob stared between his feet. Even his half-smoked cigarette was forgotten as he absorbed the details of Hayley’s early childhood. It hung loosely between his fingers, a curl of smoke writhing up his forearm. He finally looked up, and his eyes were moist: Tess had been correct in assuming that Jacob still had feelings for Hayley, despite what his brothers claimed to the contrary.

  ‘Her dad abandoned her as a baby?’ Tess nodded in answer and Jacob went on. ‘He didn’t die in Afghanistan? Was he even in the military?’

  Tess shook her head. Beyond her, Po muttered under his breath. ‘He’s a no-good waste of crap is what he is.’

  Tess understood his feelings. As a teenager, Po’s life had been ripped apart by his mother abandoning him when she left for a man who’d been his father’s best friend. His mother’s betrayal had sparked a blood feud that led to his dad’s murder and a spell of fourteen years in Louisiana State Penitentiary for Po after he sought equally violent vengeance. The Villere v. Chatard war had only ended a couple of years ago following his mom’s death-bed confession that he was not the youngest of his family line, and Po had needed to band with his former enemies to save his younger sister Emilia’s life. He had a good excuse for disliking the notion of absent parenting, but she didn’t want it getting in the way of her search for Hayley.

  ‘It was a fantasy concocted by Jessie Cameron to make things easier on Hayley, to explain why she didn’t have a daddy. Better that she believed her dad was some kind of war hero than an abusive drunk who abandoned her at birth. She claims she intended coming clean with Hayley, at some point, but as Hayley aged she found it tougher finding a way that wouldn’t hurt her. The truth is that Jessie’s brother died in Afghanistan, so she knew all about grief: it was a story she found she could sell to the girl.’

  ‘You asked if I was unaware of her adoption; are you telling me that Hayley has recently learned the truth? If she did she didn’t tell me.’

  ‘It’s the reason her mom, Jessie, thinks she has gone into hiding. The truth must’ve come as a shock to the girl, it’s hardly surprising that she has rebelled and is avoiding all her mom’s efforts at reconciliation.’

  ‘I haven’t seen Hayley in a couple of weeks. I’m dating another girl now … uh … you met her already. Stacey, your server?’ Jacob waited for her to acknowledge his announcement before sucking greedily on the last remnants of his cigarette. When it was down to the filter he flicked it on the floor and ground out the embers underfoot. ‘Last I saw Hayley she seemed her same old self. She must’ve learned her life was a lie after that, right?’

  ‘Yes, but maybe within a day or so. She stopped all correspondence with her mom, and with everyone else we’ve spoken with up until now, ten days ago.’

  ‘Have you che
cked her social media?’

  Tess only offered a tight smile.

  ‘Yeah, that was probably your first move,’ Jacob said. ‘If she has been inactive on the social networks it’s … well, Hayley has a lot of followers and recorded every minute of her day on one site or another.’

  ‘All the platforms she used have been de-activated,’ Tess confirmed. ‘Which is worrying.’

  ‘Maybe not,’ said Jacob with more than a hint of hope, or maybe even guile. ‘Perhaps after learning her life was a lie, she realized everything she’d posted online only reflected those lies and she prefers to put that part of her life behind her and move on. Y’know, with a fresh start? Maybe she’s still on there but under a different identity.’

  Again, from behind her, Tess caught Po’s response, a grunt this time. She too had found Jacob’s words strange, but chose not to challenge him on them.

  ‘Why aren’t the cops looking for her?’ Jacob asked.

  ‘Hayley’s twenty-one – in the eyes of the law she’s an adult. There’s no sign of foul play. Besides, Jessie hasn’t filed a missing persons report; she only thinks that Hayley is avoiding her. She only wants a chance to explain everything to Hayley and for her to come home. It’s why she asked us to find her daughter rather than involve the police.’

  Jacob nodded. ‘I wish I could help you.’

  ‘We do too.’

  He held up his open palms, mouth set in a grimace. ‘I’d best get back to work. Uh, are you guys still eating? I’ll have Stacey take your order.’

  Tess shook her head and backed out into the rain. She’d lost her appetite.

  FOUR

  ‘He’s hiding something from us,’ said Po. They had returned to his car to make the short drive to collect Pinky, though Po was yet to start it moving. The showers had grown heavier, raindrops battering on the shell of the car and rolling down the windshield in waves.

  ‘Of course he is,’ said Tess.